No matter the industry, as a brand grows its footprint, it’s vital that it provides customers with a consistent, quality, and secure experience.
To ensure that its cash automation, self-service, and related IoT technologies are always ready and able to provide the services, security, and features that customers need, these companies or their services partners must deliver timely, comprehensive field service.
Although many factors make providing field service complex, there have been several trends in recent years that have made the process more efficient and effective. There are approximately 83.1 million consumers in the US using AR monthly, and AR usership is expected to grow to 17% by 2022. AR usership is growing, in particular, developments in areas such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) give field services more access to the technology and information they need to maintain equipment uptimes and ensure quality service.
So what can these recent trends in AR and VR in the field services industry mean for your business?
When you first hear AR and VR, it’s likely your mind conjures up images of video games, futuristic movies, and university labs. However, there is so much more to these technologies, and they already positively impact our personal and professional lives each day.
But first, what exactly are AR and VR?
AR allows end-users, who are in the physical world, to interact with virtual objects near them “through the use of digital visual elements,” including sound and other sensory features. On the other hand, VR gives end-users the ability to interact within an entirely virtual environment, complete with computer-simulated people and landscapes. VR is known for its head-mounted display.
Both of these technologies are considered assistive technologies, and they have applications that allow field technicians and technical support teams to perform service calls or simulate actual device configurations, data, and functions to troubleshoot real issues.
Although the technology is still evolving and expanding its use cases, here’s how AR and VR already benefit organizations:
AR and VR offer service technicians the ability to digitally visualize a device, working through the steps to triage and resolve issues in a range of scenarios with a variety of equipment.
Scenarios like these ultimately reduce the amount of time it will take a service technician to get a real device or unit back online and allow junior technicians to quickly gain the experience needed to move to senior levels.
Cash automation and payment and transaction technology devices easily outnumber the number of service technicians, requiring service providers to ensure they are utilizing specialists as efficiently and productively as possible.
AR and VR technologies can reduce multiple trips to a site by giving service technicians the data to digitally diagnose an issue, plan, and test a fix, which improves equipment uptime. AR and VR can also be used to evaluate new features, patches, and upgrades to see how they will impact a device or the customer experience.
The pace of technological innovation can be hard to keep up with, but organizations that take advantage of these advancements can streamline their operations, introduce new customer features, save time and money, and ensure they maintain their competitive edge for years to come. Burroughs has the expertise and the technology tools and resources to help your business stay ahead of curve.
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